Bengaluru: Apparently faced with criticism from a section of villagers and political class, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday, August 16, dropped the offer to rename flood-hit villages after donors who contribute more than Rs 10 crore for relief works.
The offer has now been modified, and the Chief Minister said such donors contributing for the development of the flood-affected villages will have the new layouts, which would come up there, named after them, not villages.
“Clarification: Chief Minister had announced that donors contributing more than Rs 10 crore will have the layouts named after them, not the villages,” he tweeted from the CM of Karnataka Twitter handle.
Clarification: Chief Minister had announced that the donors contributing more than Rs. 10 crore will have the layouts named after them, not the villages.
— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) August 16, 2019
Yediyurappa’s announcement on Wednesday at a meeting with industrialists and corporates in the wake of last fortnight’s rain fury that left 62 people dead, that villages would be renamed after companies if they give more than Rs 10 crore had drawn criticism from some villagers and the JD(S).
The contention of those villagers and some JD(S) leaders is that changing the village name is nothing short of losing one’s identity.
The JD(S), headed by former Prime Minister H D Devegowda, had termed the move “Tughlaq”-like.
“.. Please don’t make people who have lost everything in the floods to lose the name of their village,” the party had said.
“Do not put Karnataka up for sale”.
Courtesy: PTI (edited)
